1992 04 24
--
Chairwoman Montgomery called the meeting to order at 9=30
MEMBERS PRESENT: 'Barbara Montgomery, Selda
BettyBragg,Sherol Howard, and Jane Kubitz
CHANHASSEN SENIOR COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
APRIL ?4, 1992
MEMBERS ABSENT: Bernice Billison
STAFF PRESENT: Paul Krauss, Planning Director; Sharmin AI-Jaff, Planner I;
and Judy Colby, Senior Center Program Coordinator
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Judy Colby asked to amend the agenda to including
reading a letter.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Chairwoman Montgomery noted that the Minutes of the
Se~ior Co~mission m~eting dated Ma~ch 20, 1992 stand as presented.
Montgomery: Okay Judy, you had your 'letter you wanted to read.
.
Colby: Yes, I passed out a writing that I received this past week arid
I received this from aWes Farrnerand I thought that theacoolade that came
with it was better suited to the Commission than to myself.. .so I'd like to.
read that. Dear Ms. Colby. My wife, Mary and I wish to commend you and
your co-workers on the progress that you ha0emade in regards in tegards to
the Senior Center. While we presently are., employed full tim&, we .
appreciate your efforts to set up facilities... that will assist us i nthe
future. By way of i ntr.oduction, I thought you might enjoy the enclosed
p6em, Eternal Value. Very truly yours,Wes Farmer. And that's why .
I thought it would bea nice way to start the day with that poem because it'
really was,o arid that's why~e're all here....nice for someone t6take the
time to write and thank us...
Montgomery: Did you want to read it? Okay. Well thank yo~ very much.
.~h~t's a nice beginning. That's very nice of them to take the time to do
that. We really appreciate it.
I
,
Bragg: Get his name and address and h~ve him on the Advisory Committee.
I'Ve got him on the list.
:e
Judy Mar~hik: I think what I'll do is jusi kind of walkthrough the survey
here and then tell you what's in it and how to read it and then if you have
any questionsi try to ansWer, your questions. We had 236 responses that we
were dealingwithcind I don't know what the total number was that was
mailed out. Do you recall at all~udy? Not quite 500. That's ~ very g60d
response then. So very close to.half or 50%. ...Somewhat, less than 500
households? Okay. So at a minimum it was a 25% response and at am~ximum
quite a bit higher than that. The questions, what I did first was just go
,through and~othe freque~cies here and the frequencies are set up iri
percentages. It's a little .easier to interpret so that first question, are
people that are telling us what their.commitment is to remain in the area.
Answers 1 and 3 would be the ~eople that intend to stay in Chanhassen.So
senior Commission Meeting
April 24, 1992 - Page 2
__ you see that somewhat more than 78% ef the resRendents, if they are\either
retired current.ly or not retired, de intend to stay in the ,Chanhassenarea.
So these are peeple that are' co~mitted to this city. 50' yeu're net, i~ a
~ense you'r~ not getting responses fram peep Ie whO' are going to tell you
what they want but then are going to meve ~way. Okay? So' these are
peaple,for the mest part, who are committed to the ~rea. The second
questi~n tells yeu their current velunteer habits or experiences anct yeu
see that they're most likely t.e volunteer to drive people places. That's
a, b, c and d. And the other, one; i, visiting someene unable to get eut.
That'~another fre~uent respense,answ~r categary. , The thin~ they're least
likely to de is help sameane with yardwark and while we can recallfrem
the survey we, did a ceuple'years ago, what a great need that is far 'peaple
and haw many of them, even at a fairly young age, don't want to' de their
'awn yard work. I think it'sreasanable to' see that they prebablywouldnot
'rush en eutandda ather peeple's yard work either. There were a little
bit mere than a third that reperted net having dene any kind ef ,velu~teer
werk so you ceuldsay this is pretty volunteer intense graup with,almest
2/3 of the peeple repertingsame kind ef valunteer activity. The number af
haurs that theyreperted velunteering varied quite a bit. The mean was
about 15heurs a menth ar :3 t,a4 haurs :a week. The mean is an overall
average and the mean was raised by the fact that same peeple reparte9
velunteering to' care far an elder person almast 2.4 heurs areund the clack.
In other word~ I believe they were caregivers and sa that kind of dragged
the mean 'up. The median, which is the~ointin any statistic where 50% ef
the respondentsarebe~ew that paint and 50% are abeve thatpeint. It was
",.' abaut 6 hours a menth er an hour and a half a week . So that just kind of
~ givesyeusame ideasef the intensit~ of valunteers. Scimepeople
volunteering a lot, and same peaple valunteering smaller numbers.
again, because we have a fairly large return of elderly peaple in ihis
survey and yau'll see (that in -the age breakouts. More than a quarter.
That it!sreasanable to' expect that the elder semebody gets, they may
donate fewer volunteer hours. It may be harder far them to get out,of
their househald. etc.. We actually have a brea~aut byag~.We ce~ld ,take
a look at that and see if that hypothesIs is true. Question 4 then., Now
we start getting intO' Senier Center type activities and we asked them if
they have participated anywhere in an activity which is kind ,ef an age
related activity to peeple ~ver age 55 and slightly mere thana third say
yes, they have in the last year. Done something like that. And then ,we
ask them what they participate in and they said that the'y participatei n,
it looks like social recreatienal!. , Cards, crafts is the highest group.
And then trips and event attendance is the secend highest greup. ' A meal
pragram, the third highestgraup and right behind that, exercise classes
and active spart~. Seme in educatianal events. A small number ~nhealth
screening and treatments and a very small number in supportgraups ar
classes for caregivers. So' they're, just reparti ngte yeuthe kinds of
things tha.t they'vB participated in. The next questianasks them, if there'
was a bentef, services they think they wauld use if it ~ere a quality
program andoffer(edat an afferdable cest. And here you can see that the
bigwinnerhereis~xerciseclasses. ,That's the single highest categery ar
active sperts, and then travelfollawing right behind it. Or excuse me,
secial recreatianal is the highest. So' these fairly, I dan'tknew, graup
e kind~ af things. The secial recreational, travel, and then'exerciseactive
sp6Yts being the high categery., And then high interest in a letef other
categories. My exercise has been that if yeu kind of plot between question
Senior Commission Meeting
April 24, 1992 - Page 3
.
5 and question 6. Okay,question 5 is what's called behavioral anchored
response.. Xncither words, youlre asking people what they typically door
have done 'so they're reporting what they think they do. And ~uestion 6 is
ki~d of a futuring or oh gee. If this happened,maybe I'd do this kind of
thing.... And people are a lot more opti,mistic about what they're Ii kely to
think they will do. Now somewhereinbetween is maybe what people will
actually do. Okay? The fact of the matter is~ they don't have a senior
center now and they don't have the full range of activities that are
avallable which means that perhaps the participation would go up from 5.
Buton the. other hand, they might not reach a full blown 6 there okay so
that's just why we ~ut those two questions in that way. To show yo~~hat
they have done and sh6w you what they think they're going to do if a new
event or somet.hing new happens. And then question 7 is where they wrote in
all kinds of things and they truly wrote in tons of stuff here"..You '11
have on your computer printout a more complete listing. What 1 did is just
pull the top 10 yere and then I'll show you the page and the computer
printout when we get that far where you can see the more complete listing.
So these are the top 10 that came out where we asked them to write in
~pecifically the kinds of things they wanted. Card ~ames was the highest.
And then exercise and aerobics second. Right close to day trips, cultural
events ,which kind of matches up wi ththecategor ies on top up there and
then you have golf ,arts and crafts, wood working, financial/legal advice .
That was our planning group-luncheons, dancing and college classes fairly
close together. Fairly similar percentages there. So some active kinds of
things and some things that are a little bit more educational and then.some
thi ngswhich are clearly social. Kind of a mix of activities. Questions
8,9and 10 focu~ on transportation issuesa~d we ask them what they've
r00ti~ely done or how they get around. Again, that's a behaviorally
anchored item. How do they typically get around or how have they gotten
around in the last 12 months. And you can sf,Sle that a large roajor itybyfar
grivea car. And then others have experimented with other kinds of
transportation. Question 9 asks,if there were any times .whenthey .were
unabl. t.o go somewhere and this is very close as I recall to .thepercent we
got when we did the survey a couple years' ago too. About 6% that said they,
wey'ehaving some problems. Unfortunat.ely, almost 3/4 of them didn't write
in what the problem was so we have a very short list of explanations as to
what the trouble is in reviewing that list and I did bring that along.' It
was the things we had before. Buse~ were unavailable i~ the evening and ori
the weekends. Somebody's car broke down. They. had a special event they
.ha~togoto way across town and they had no connect link to get there.
But most of the excuses were not written in there so that's kind of. hard to
interpret what that means. 'And the,n question 10 we were asking how much
they would use transportation services to and from the center if they would
be.offered. And it looks like the ~seages would not be regular. M0ch
smaller re~ponsesin the frequently categories. The frequently categories
would be Cd) and Cf). But the sometime category says, fairly high.useage.
A quarter of ,the respondents saying more than a quarter. Theyw6ulduse it
sometimes daytimes.' Somewhat. less than a quarter would use it. sometimes
evenings and about 10% would use on weekends. $0 it may depend ,on the type
of ev1ent and the kind, of participant you're drawi ng too and their ability
or current useage of an automobile. .Question li.asks specifically about
meals. Whether they would come into a center to take a meal. And ftlooks
like.at least half of th~ crowd says they'd come in at least one. time. If
you add up the very likely ~ndthe somewhat likely ~roup. And then we ~ave
e
I'
Senior Commission Meeting
April 24, 1992 - Page 4
'e
e
a strong one third that say they'd be very unlikely.to use the, even test
the meal service. I'd like to look at that one when we get to the computer
printout here and see if those were younger people or who those might be.
Question 12, I .thinkwe: were trying to get some idea of commitment to
caregiving and it looks like about close to a third say that they regularly
provide helper assistance to an older adult. Fairly large .caregiver
response. We didn't ask them how intense that was or how many hours a week
or whatever but fairly high. Would they attend a class addressing~s~ects
of this relationship. It.' looks like about a third' of them would. Andtwo-
tt;lirds wouldn't. The other people just had responded no to the' previous
question. QuestIon 14 , asks how likely people would be to enroll1 nany
program at the center if it opened up and again if you add the very
likely's and the somewhat likely's, thatcomes.close to two.:..thirds of the
group say that they'd enroll in somethinQ and ab00t one-third~aylngno.
So:wehave that constant one-third there that is saying no, I wouldn't use
thedin{ng center. No,I probably wouldn't use the transportation~etc..
Maybe there'd be some' ways'we could kind of profile who that grou~ is as
compan::ld to the others. Times of days they're most likely to use the
center. It looks very evenly split to me. A.little stronger in the,
afternoon but about one-thirdin.the morning. Slightly more thana third
, in the afternqon and about one-third i nthe eveni ngagain so different
people having preferences for different times of ~ay. That may be ~ge
related or activity related. It's just hard to ,tell what that means. But
it's spread outuseage. And then question .16 , you'll see a column on down
the right hand side of your page. They had to write in ,there how many
tim~s a week they thought they'd use the center. How manytimes:amonth.
And people wrote in once a week or twice a week. Two times a month is the
largest category so once every other 'week. So it looks, the mean when th~t
was calculated iST ight under 'the number 16 typed on the item. About 4.9
times a.month.orabout 5 times a month'so roughly once a week it 160ks like
would be the approximate useage.Andthen for ages, th~yhad~owrite in
their birth year. We just changed that to age and grouped them into
categories there. It's a little easier to see how old the respondents
,were. . I think you had a very good mix of people that were somewhatyoungeT;
,and people that were somewhat older. The under 60 group was aboyta
quarter of the respondents. 60 to 64 roughly, another quarter. 65 to 69
about 16% . 70 to 79 roughly another quarter and then 80+ about 7 .2and I
'don't have your population statistics in front of meso I don't. know if
that's representa.tive of your pop0lation or not but. it looks 1 ike a good
mix. The mean age was 65 and the median age was 64. Mean is the average.
Median again, 50% above ,50% below ~ And then number of people in
households. Here we get some idea of how many are living with 2. or3 or .4
people in their household. One pbrson households much less than a quarter.
Two person householdsabouttwo~thirds. Th(ee person households, above 10%
and then 4 and 5 person households, a little bit less than 5%. So a small
'number of people living in one person households . . Less than a fifth of the
group.~' And then genders break out, more female than male which we would
expect because of age trends in mature adults. Marital status, 3/4 married
so again lots of couples. Employment status, because of the lower. age
groups I'm sure, almost a third of the g'roup was employed full .time. And
then approximate incomes, and I. did just ,note there the income category
that was the mean or the average was category 6. Between S25,OOO.00to
S29,000~OOa year. And the median cat~gory a~ain, refr~shing your memory
on that. 50% above, 50% below was category 7. Between $~O~OOO.OO to
.
e
It
e'
Senior Commission Meeting
April 24, 1992 - Page 5
$39,000.00 a y~ar. $0 you hav~ a fairlyaffulent community. I think we
had. discovered' that at our last round. Most of you were involved in that
last survey. And then the recycling zones where people live. So what kind
ofbteakout th~t we get. there. Ag~in it looks lik~ it was a pretty good
. spread and I don't know what the population statistics are in' ea.ch of those
. zones. Whether that's proportionate to population of not. I would suspect
so. And then the zip codes they came from and the cities. These~re
dominantly Chanhassen residents. I'm not going to go through all the
60mputer repor~~ I'm just going to point out how to read it and what we've
got there. And then maybe we can focus on the areas we'd rather spend more
time on because there's lots of numbers that even make my eyes cross here.
How you read this table is that we age sort, first the total column way
ovel on the le~t. That's the total number. of people that responded out of
235. So all those percentages are calculated off of a base of 235. Andwe
usepercentage~ because they're easier to compare across than raw numbers
like the raw nLlmber counts of people that answered each item. . Then the
. first sort, and sometimes what I do on ~ysheets and I'll do i~ ri~ht here
right .now, is ,I draw lines when there's different things happening. . This
being thetot~l column. I think it's wise to just draw a linedowri on the
page right after the total column because that's di ff.erent data than the
next 5 columns which are age sorted data and then draw a Ii neafter the.
.last age category which .. is 80 or older because the next two columns are
gender sorted data. And it's a little easier to read. Sometimesthese
things get terYibly confusing. So wh~t you've got is you've got the
questions way over on the left hand side. They're not numbered there but
you've got your questionnaire attached to the front so if you want to see
what'the question is. The responses are over here. You've got the total
responses for. the whole ~roup and then you've got age sorted responses and
you've got gender sorted responses. Let's just take a look at thef! rst
ca,tegory and read that across. Retired and intend to stay i nChanhassen, .
47%. 'Now when we look at age (breakout of that, we see that under 60, more
people are rep:orti ng either that the dominant group is not retired there .
If you add those two last categories. 53% say they're not retired but
intend to stay. 33% say'they're not retired and intend to relocate. So
heavy not r.etlred group in that category. But as you read across the page
and move to the older age groups, the 80 and older group, you see they're
. all retired,. . Nobody is putting down the not retired category and that they.
~ominantly intend to stay in th~ area. So you kind of see differences in
the mix of the group there'. It gets a little hard to read when you have
lo~g columns d{answers. And then gender sorted, when you want to look at
that same que~tion. Still the retirement plans. Not too muchdiffer~nces
there between ~ale' and female. Maybe a few more females saying they're not
retired and intending to s.tay than males but not that big a difference. I
think the interestihg pages to look at might be to skip ahead noW. The
third page of that printout which says Table 3 at the top. Service needs
of area pre-retirements and retirement age adults. You draw your lines
again. This table goes on for 2 pages so you'll need ~odraw lines on both
pages there. 'Now you have a pri ntout of. all of the sub-categories of all
of the answers that people wrotei nof activi ties they wish the center
would plan. i'd only given you the t6p 10 on that previous hand written
report. But here ypu seethat.we start olit with computer classes and
sporting even~s and woodworking and golf and fishing ~nd picture framing
and matti ng. :People got very specific. You see all kinds of suggestions,;
Language classes. Square dancing. Bingo. Swimming. Cholesterol
e
screening. Cardiac rehab exercises. Tennis. Next page, book clubs..
Choral groups~ M~als. Bird watching. College classes. Bloodpressure
checks. Ice skat.ing. Volunteer.ing., Calligraphy. So here we have lots of
specifi~ suggestions for classe~~ And kinds of things people Want to ,do~
Again that very f.irst column on the left hand side is the total percent
based on a number of respondents of 235 and then it'~ age sorted so you can
see if there's categories in which older people would choose not to
participate. Like look at computer classesforexa~ple. Th~ percentages
drop off as you get towards the,older age groups. On the other hand you
could look at the daytrl~s to cultural events and see that the percentages
stay fairly constant with fewer people in the 60 to 64 category choosing
that. You kind of get some idea where there'salittle,bit of vari~tionby
age. If you take a look at a real male one like wood working, which ,lsthe
third one down and see that the female/male split, 3% of the female~put
down wood working but 14.7% oftne males put it down ~o there's some that
are gender specIfic as well. The next one down, golf as well. Fewer
females. Many more males p~tting down golf.
(Someone was making a comment from the audience which
the tape.)
Judy Marshik: We did take hand tallies of the ones that were rlOtincluded
on the c'omputerprlntout and just' have not had time 'to add" those up yet.
There tAlere some people that wrote lnas many as 10 suggestions and ,we had
allowed space for 3 in the computer data entries. So what we 'did ~shand
record them and we will tally them and add them to these categories but we
just got this report yesterday so we haven't had time to do some of that
stuff yet.
Senior Co~mission Meeting
April 24, 1992 - Page 6
-
Bragg: I~m impressed by the variety of things though that were suggested.
It certainly shows that thirigs could be. done.
Judy Marshik: Various needs I think and yet there's some patterns
where you can see ,what people are more interested in and probably several
sub ,groups of people. People that want fairly active activities and then
some people thatwot:lld prefer moreseditary activities. More the
socialization around the mealor/around cards or that kind of thing.
e
Judy Ma~shi k: It'd be interesti ng just to pull out,that group of eveni,ng
peo~le and find out who they are., Those are some of the thing~ we can talk
about~ Well1et's flip and see if we've got a breakout. We should,have by
age here the people that said that they wanted classes 'in the'evenin~. If
you want to turn to Table 6, that does have the time of day they're most
likely to use the center. I don't know if it's going to answer our
question here but You, draw your lines again. Table 6 is a ways'backin
there. That's got the question at the top .ofthe page. The time of the
day most likely to use the center and it looks fairly split by age group
actually. The younger people, definite younger people. If ~ere to do a
physical test on that, that would be younger people. Look at the evening
category right hereon the table and if you wanted to draw a red line
across the page under the evening category, which makes it easier toread,
and then look at the response and the under age 60 category. 48% saying
St. John: I was surprised the evening. There were'many
,
f Senior Commission Meet! ng
April 24~ 19~2- Page 7
--
they'd use it in the evening. Now these are dominantly employed people
remember from our first question. They're not retired. They're working.
,Whereas when we get up to the 80 and older, we have virtually nouseage in
the evening a~ all and it just drops off, just straight across the page.
$0 I'm sure that would statistically signific&nt. And you can see.a rise
in morning use age from the ,under 60. If you draw a line under that morning
~seage t60. Underthocie age ~roupa. Up to about 70 to 79 and thendt
plunges \lJhere probably people agai nmay have just problems gettingllp and
getting going. Wanting the morning to ge!tthemselves ready and preferring
an afternoon event for. the 80 and older age group. There a're some real ase
Yelated trend~ there. Males feeling a little bit more comfortable going
out in the evenings but I don't know if that'd be statistically .
sig~ificant. Those numbers are faiily close there.
.'
Heinlein: Driving at night has to do with it~
Judy Marshik: I'm sure it., People were reporting too that some of the
reasons they didn't drive were the problems with feeling uncomfortable
driving at night. So tha~'s the answer to that question and it is age
related. Anything else YOLl guys would like to take a closer look at? We
will. brIng that list back Judy with added in activities and give you...
Do you wantLls to ,add them in? That's Up to you. What we do then, there's
no point taking them if you don't want us to add them into the database. If
we add them into the data base, we should do another count. Otherwise....
Okay, I think We should add them in because it adds to the validity of your
data base. We'll just toss them and do a computer run. The computer's all
set up to run it so the programs are set. .
(There was a tape change at this point in the meeting.)
Judy Marshik: So that's it guys.
is true there are ~eniors out there.
Montgomery: I think that gives us a lot.
Judy Marshi k: Yep. It is true there' are those seniors out there. We
didn't make them up. And they're mailing back their surveys and they
expect something to ha~pen~ We even had a few hand written remarksori
surveys fo~, one person~rote in. Now this is the third .survey~I've filled
out in the last 60uple of years. When are you guys actually going to do
something. Stuff like that.
Judy Marshik: Yeah, age is oft~n a real important variable.
other things yOu may want to think about as ~ou are d01ngany
Montgomery: I don't think\J.Je need to buy a volleyball net.
Judy Marshik: And we can do some kind of conjecturihg about
The number that actually got mailed so based on our response
then tell you what your respo~serateis...
e
Montgomery: Thank you very much Judy. That certainly is a ~ig
like all the breakdown. It really clarifies it~
Senior Commission Meeting
Apri124,1992 .;.. Page 8
\, "
_I' that the data base is there.. It 's.not that much extra work to profile any
one of those groups of people. It's very easy to pull them up on computer
an6geta few traits or characteristics on them. So as you're going ,
th~ough, you don't need to be limited by the information' that~s here" We
could always do what's called a cross tab where we pull up one group and
look at characteristics on the survey Ii ke their age. You know like all
the people interested in education classes. ,Would theyb~!younge~. Would
they be driving. That kind of thing. It's very easy to do ,that. SoT
think the real richness in the data base like this is not the first time
through when you just get the frequency counts but the additional things'
you can do with it to help you do~lanning for events for keep that in
mind. Because it'sa good resource for you as is the previous data base.
So we've not got t~oipoints in time. .
UPDATE. ON SENIOR.. CENTER CONSTRUCTION,
AND
Montgomery: Thanks very much.
Krauss: If I may for justa moment. I don't know if all 6f
familiar with Councilman Dick Wing who's been sitting in the
morning.
Montgomery: I'm glad you're here. Thanks
Nice to know your name.
e
, \
Dick Wing: You know as long as you saw fit to do'that, I like to show.up
at commission meetings when I can to show an interest and take aninte,rest.
Plus it's the only way to be informed.' You read the Minutes you just don 't
get the flavor of it. But when I see that the fire departmentcan't,g~t
$300.00 for air horns for the rescue truck and they do get $150, $160,
$170, whateve.r the amount \IoJas for the senior center, . I saythisgrolJp .of
ladies are mOre formiable. ..so I congratulate youa.nd I think you 're. doing
an excellent job aDd we have a lot in common. I think we're 'both task
oriented and 1 like.that...dealing with issues...
Montgomery: Well thank you .We real~y appreciate your SUPPO)-t.
great. I think it's been really exciting and I'm just really, I don't
know. Every time we meet there's something new that is interesting I
that has developed so ~\Je 're hanging in there. But thanks, so much Tor
coming.. I'm glad. I hope you come often .
e
Dick Wing: I have to schedule Mondays as a priority so that makes it
difficult..,but I try to be here when I can. I think all the Council does.
Bragg: I'd like to add something to that also. You thi nk we're a bunch
movers and shakers, if we didn't have the support of the 'Council, we
couldn-t.But we also find out that other parts of the County are
interested' in . what .we're doing because weare'formally organized and then
one day we found out that several counties,are getting together to do some
of the ~ork we'r~ doing. And I also, this is non-political because I don't
think Jim Ramstad knows what my political thoughts are but I got a very
nice 'letter from him saying that the seniors things that he is supporting.
senior Commission Meeting
Apri 1 24 ~ 1992 ;... Page 9
.
I thought it would be interesting to show the group ~ maybe not
another ~eetingwhat the United states lovernment is doing for
Krauss: I~m glad you got that letter from Jim b~cause are copying himon a
letter about a problem that we're having with the Department of Housing and
Utban bevelopment.
.
Bragg: Okay~ so he is interested and he is watching'what's happening...
Montgomery: Well th~t's great. I'd like to say th~t witho~tthe staf~
workingtheirheadsoff~ we would. not have gotten anywhere. So I just
really think it's been ajoin~ effort by a lot of people. We thank you
all. Shall we, now who.'s goi ngto do the update on the senior cente''''
construction?
Bert Haglund: I se~ on your agenda you have three items sort of
identified. One being the contract~Since the last' meeting~ the contract
with the contractor was signed and we had a meeting with the contractor to
get everything in order. And as you drove up this.mornin~, you no doubt .
noticed that there's some ~ctivitygoing on over at the end of the
building. So we're under way. The schedUle we have gotten from. the
contractor and I believe a copy of that was sent to you. Do you all have a
copy of the construction schedule? Good. You'll notice on the schedule~
first of all that the end of the schedule meets our expectations~which is
mid"""June. TheY'll. be finished with what's .calledsubstahtial completion of
the wOTk by that June 12th date and then the week following theywill,be'
picking up any odds and ends that as we go into the space and inspect it,
they'll'be doing that, finishing up if you will of some odds and ends that
fOllowing week. However,duringthat time, you can occupy the space and
begin to furnish it. and get it set up for yoGr activities whil~theY're
d6ing that ~nd that's what that Nery last itemcalledpunchlis~ items is
all about. We goinand inspectthe work after it's been completed. Note
anything that might still need to be wrapped up and then we put together
what's called a 'punch'list, which is Teally a checklist of some dotting the
i's and crossing the t's on the construction. But you will have the space
available to you after the~2th. Starting however now, whattheY~Te going
to do is focus on getting the vestibule addition completed first so that
can get out of the ground and enclosed. And once that's completed about
mid"""May, then they will move inside of the building and do all of the
iriterior work starting in abou~mid-May and take about a month to complete
that portion . So gener all y we 'reon trac k ..Any questions about the
schedule?
. ,
Montgomery:
) ,
I thought the punch list, maybe we, were going to have.
-
Bert Haglund: Well that too. The other item you have noted there ,is
furniture. We have been spendi n9 some time this last week when we met. with
~he committee to take a look at the options we ha0e as far as th~ colors of
thef~bric~andcarpet and paint and that sort of thing ~nd we looked ~t
some alternatives. We looked at a green toned of things. We looked at
kind of arose tone of colors. W~ looked at a blue set of colors and the
decision was made to go with the bllle palate. That in fact is similar in
some respects to what's in City Hall now upstairs. There'sth~ paint color
and there's kind of a ,gray to it so there's kind of a blue gray palate that
Senior Commission Meeting
April 24, 1992 - Page 10
e
we'll be using in the fabrics and in the colors. I have a copy or I have a
board which has some of the pieces of it on it. I'll just p8ssthis
around. Not everything is labeled on there, however it just shows you how
we're trying to coordinate'the colors of not only the paint and the plastic
lami nent. The table tops. The chair covering. The carpet. . The vinyl
flooring. Allofthoae things so they allworktogetheY' .intermsofcolor.
S~ that's what we've landed on and atthia point the only thing that's ,left
in that decision making is tha~ we had some chairs that we were considering
but today some additional chairs, some sample chairs were setup in the
conference room up.in the court yard and I think we're going to make a
change in the style of chair to something that has a longer warranty.
What is the window treatment going to be?
Bert Haglund: The windowt reatment-wi 11 be t.hehor izontal
go into the library, you'll notice on the windows
horizontal bli ndsand they more or less match the
Howard: 'As an interior decorator,! know blue is thet-Jorat color to
This is why it's important if it's a sunny room to be able to keep a lot
direct sunlight. Your carpet, anything blue will fade faster than any
other color. '
Bert Haglund: i Well there will be wi~dow coverings and so you ~an close the
blinds when the sun is beating down directly.'
e
Colby:
I'm just curious, how does the green respond?
Bert Haglund: Some people like green. Some people like
St~ John: If we have sunligh~ all the time, you don't want to
blinds closed all the time.
Kubitz: But there is enou~h gray in this so it will.
Bert Ha.glund: ! think we're all very satisfied. VeY'Y happy with
this has turned, out.
~10ntgomery: That's a lot of work.
Howard: Judy's the only, you wanted green Judy.
Montgomery: We can have a lot of green plants. How's that?
Colby: Okay.
e
Kubitz: It was funny because Oscar
The blue gray one.
Heinlein: He sort of hedged at first.
Kubitz: Yeah. But everybody threw out
Except Judy, Judy was unhappy with uSl
Senior Commission Meeting
April 24, 1992 - Page 11
II Montgomery: Well'we'll be sure you get lots of green plants.
Kubitz: I told them to Judy's offic~ in green because that ~as
Bert Haglund: 'I think that gives you a brief overview of where weare~
We're making progress. The construction has started and we're on track
with thci schedule.
Montgomery: I think that's great.
Bert Haglund: .Alright, veiy good.
Montgomery: Does anything depend on weather or can you just
mostly no matter what?
Bert Haglund: I don't really for~seeanything that would cause any delay
here. We'll just keep'moving ahead. We're meeting with the contractor
every Friday afternoon with what we call a progress meeting so that each
week we are keeping pace with the progress of the work and seeing that yes,
~"e stay on track over the course of the next couple of months here~, And '
that if anything does come up, we'll. be aware of that in a timely way so
that we can respond. So as a matter of fact, this afternoon at Z:OO~
Friday at 2:00 is our weekly meeting time with the'contractor., Very good.
Thank you. .
e Montgomery: Th9-nks very much.
SENIOR EXPO.
Montgomery: Next item is the Senior Expo. JUdy, ,are you
talking about that?
Colby: Well we are all set UP with a booth...
be there with us. Just with handouts and I have .set up a schedule~and we
sent out a schedule of seminars and workshops for t.hat day so t.hat maybe
you can look over' which workshop you would want to Jattend. And then fill
i n ~"hen you could maybe help staff the booth with me. The booth wi! I only
be open from 10:30 to 2:00 and the Expo starts earlier. It starts 1- think
ate: 30-9: 00. So 1. put down half houri ncrements on the schedule here a nd
1 have, if you don't have your copy with you, I have a copy of the
workshops that are happening .nd what t.imes so maybe you could work out.~ if
anybody could help me with some of those sessions, it would beappr~ciated~
But the 'first session isn't a problem because that gets over at 10:15 so
it>'s Just if you're interested inon/2;l of the second or third sessions. , So
if YOLl1could filltha.t out before you leave today so I knot"" who will ,be
ther~,I'd appreciate it. Maybe we should talk about who's going to attend
what because It would ,be nice to get any informatIon that we might want. I
know that /2;lspecially with the exercises being such a high priority on
people's list, I guess I'd like"to have someone get to t.h~tTai Chi
demonstration. Oh, that;s the first one so no .problem. I' can g,et there.
. Bragg: I took the classes from that gentleman.
It seems at Minnetor~atheY're real positive on
e
Judy~ do we each send in
do this?
Senior Commission Meeting
April 24, 1992 .;.;. Page 12
C61by: I think that probably would be the best to send it in. You.
put a call in to find out if as a presenter, if we also have to
suppose if you're attending the workshops and eating the lunch, I
that they want you to.
,
Krauss: Judy, if you fill out your stuff and get it to us, we'll
your admission. We should pick it up.
Montgomery: Well, that's very nice.
Wel.l,that's very nice. Thank you.
can go home until you fill it out.
It's what, a $5.00 a piece charge.
Okay, we'll fill that out then. Nobody
She didn't get one in the mall.
st. John: Do you have an extra one? I don't have one.
Yes. lean make a copy for you. Or you can take
you want to when you leave.
Montgomery: Okay. Does anybody have any qu~stions for Judy
Bragg: What are we going to.be showing in our booth?
e
Colby: I'm going to just bring an easel to show the 'actual drawing. of the
center. And I think, because we're not going to, because by that time I'm
hoping we' 11 have some kind of a handout and I'm hoping to be able to sit
down with an Advisoyy Board within the next week to. work~p and that~ill
be our firstthi ng is what we ~.Jant .to present. There won't be anything
hard as far as we're going to have this class on this date oranyt~irig like
that. Sutsorne kind of a handout that we can give them. We were talking
about the diyectory. If the directory would be read; to hand out~ I guess
I would rather that that be a grand opening handout than the Expo. I think
that would' be nice)'" to have i ti n our' center that we hand that out. But
that's just my opinion. If you would prefer.
Bragg: I would concur with you that that would . . .
St. John: This would be more o~less just to let the people
are here.
c61by: And that we're going to be open then. Maybe have a picture of
drawing on thehal1doutalso and tentative dates for gl-andopening.
AI-Jaff: We do have a number of brochures ,that show activities in the
.such as '$ojour n o~ CART. Maybe those could be things that we cari hand
\
-
Colby: Well Sojourn is a presenter there too. They're going
table there also. . . And CART is also gol ng to be there.
AI-Jaff: But show that thoseseTvices are available
ChanhasSlen.F'or seniors in the city of Chanhassen.
,
, ..
Senior Commission Meeting
ApriJ2~~ 1992 ~ Page 13
~ the Chanhassen table.
Howard:: You want somebody there at 10:30 wit~you~
just as soon come for the mor~ing only. Selda and
,
Heinlein: I can always get Dial-a-Ride to go home
longer.
Colby: And then on the list they do show where they're
transportationb0t wherevef you can help me it would be
appreciated. Whatever time you can.
Well we'll fill it out on your list then. Okay.
DIAL-A-RIDE
fa
AI-Jaff: . realled Diane Harberts, Southwest Netro Transit's Administrator
and iwanted to find out when the extension of hours were ~oin~to take
place. She just finished the contract with Dial-a-Ride. Negotiating the
contract. There are a few minor things that need to be worked oui. Once
that has been completed, she v.Jill request the additional hours.' She also
informed me that ~he was working closely ~ith Judy Colby trying to figure
out what evening activities we will be having. This will guarantee that
there ~"i 11 be riders on the 'Dial-a-Ride bus. So soon. Very soon. The
extension should be tikingplace. She said it's not going to be ~veryday
to begi n with but.. '
Well it's a beginning.
8ragg:1 would think too that it would depend on what Judy's going tOi she
still doesn't have a lot of hours in. If she's going to have any evening
activities, she has to adJust your day or get somebody to volunteer.
Colby: r like the results on how many wanted to volunteer on that.
8ragg: I find you have to do a lot of this.
Colby~ We did get on the survey that we did-get respo~se back from People,
we have about '15 peopl~ volunteering so I've got ~heir labels alreidy
printed up and the first thing~email to.
Montgomery: Okay. Well that's good news.
She's working on it. When Diane promises something,
.
Colby: When she talked to me, she mentioned she thought May.
would happen in May. Did she say that at all to yoti?
AI-Jaff: She said once you let her know what kind of evening
might have.
Senior-Commission Meeting
April 24, 1992 - Page 14 '
e
\
Colby: So she's riot really going to schedule a Monday,
Fiiday or ~e could maybe request ~schedule?
~l-Jaff: Yeah"that's what she said.
then she needs minimum' of 3 to 4 pebple
she can't get that. '
Howard: We'll just use you if we're running short. You're
pick you up.
Al~Jaff: She'~ responsible in front of the Regional:Transit Board to show
that she's no~,just expending hours when nobody is using them. Otherwise,
it's mismanagement.
Heinlein: Well the driver tried to
him. What was it, 2 weeks ago when Because I want to go to
Southdale and he was trying to, tell me, well J don't think you pay this
driver but when you get ,into Eden Prairie you've got to pay him $2.00.
then it will ,be the same coming back.
Montgomery: Why don't you call and talk to Diane or somebody and clarify
that.
Montgomery: I think once people know that that link
wilT use it.
I
AI-Jaff:' Correct.
Heinlein: I have some confusion. I don't kno~ when they
they mention any rate to go from here to Southdale?
AI-Jaff: I know it's $2.00 for me but I think fora senior
cents.
'.. Heinlein: Is it still that?
AI-Jaff~ I believe so.
AI-Jaff:
citizens.
I can check on it. I'm quite certain it's 75 cents for
8~t I will check on it.
Heinlein: I wanted to go this past weekend and I just didn't get there and
I want to try and go next week.
e
AI~Jaff: Okay. I'll double check on it.
DESIGNATING MAY AS "OLDER AMERICAN MONTH".
AI-Jaff: We received the proclamation yest.rday...and it
but anyways, we received it. The City Council will he declarihg
of May as Older Americans Morith on Monday. This coming Monday. .
it.
Montgomery: Good work. The wheels go slowly sometimes.
Mee.t i ng
Page 15.
It
Bragg: You know ! don't think 'we'd be so fussy about this but I ,think it
takes a good deal of pushing for people to admit they are getting older and
some things like this help because there's still honor among older people.
.'\
Montgomery: Well, thank y6u.
AI-Jaff~ Your.welcome.! called them every single day. I
second they hear that Sharmin is on the line, they say tell
They probably think you're 75 years old. Well
AI-Jaff: Your welcome.
DISCUSSION OF. SENIOR CENTER ADVISORY BOARD.
e
Colby: We havendt gotten the n0mber of applications
we did some letter writing and encouraging and still did not receive in
certain categories. So what I have asked and what I would like to ask you
is permission to take the applications that we have and begin a temporary
advisory board to help with the planning of opening the center because if
wewait'sny longer until all those positions are filled,we'+egoing;to
really be running into time constraints on I'm getting some things "
accomplished. Right ndw we have applications f~om the 3 on the commission,
Bunny, Sherol and Jane. I have an application from Marion Stoltz ~hich
could be the card club designee. 1 called Gayla Madson fTomCo~munity
Education as our District #112 representative because I thought that would
be a good tie for programming and we ,received an application from Cindy
Everett~ho is with the Chanha~sen Bank. She was concerned about the
number of hours she could ~ut toward it but if it were during ~or~ing
hours, she s~id that~shecould give us some time. So I would like to
recommend that these people be approved for a temporary advisory board
the center so we could start warkIngon plans and pr~grams.'
~ragg: Judy, how short are you of people?
-
St. Jdhn: Second.
.
Bragg moved, St~ John seconded to allow a
Board be set up to begin planning for the
favor and the motion carried~
Senior Commission Meeting
Ap~il 24,'1992 - ~age 16
Montgomery: Anything ~lse in regards to that Judy?
Colby: Well, I'd like to" not in regards to the advisory but before we get
into the H.O.M.E. program, if I could. Well maybe I don't even have to go.
over the catering. I've 'got quite a bit of information on the catering but
maybe! can do that with the adviso~y board then rather than this. That
might better fit that. So no, that's all.
UPDATE
Colby: Last week, or a week ,and a half ago now, we sent out a letter just
encouraging anyone that hadn't filled out their survey to please do so and
included in that ~as a flyer on the Geritol Frolics and' also on the HOME
program because we have not been receiving any phone calls from Chanhassen.
residents to utilize the HOME program. But it also has not been publicized
very much. You know it was in the paper whe~ it was initially brought :
forth and that's why I thinkat~he Senior Expo,I'm glad we~re going to
have that opportunity. I think if we had the center. and people saw that
they could utilize" the sU'rvey showed that that was a need that seniOrs
defiriitely had. I called over to Betty to .find out how th~ response was
and they had gotten between 6 and 9 calls...
Kubitz: And that's a holiday so
working.
e
(There was a long tape change at this point in
,Howard: We were going to ,suggest that they make
this side'street.
Kubitz: Yeah, but this is for the 4th of July.
Howard: I'm just bringing this up. Perhaps this should be mentioned to
the Council Monday.
Montgomery: Sharmin? I think Sherol had...
Howard: We had mentioned making senior parking on this side street on both
sides and perhaps that should be brought up to the Council on Monday.
Colby: How could that be ~nforced?
Howard: People pay attention to si~ns. If it's crippled parkin~,
don't.park there. They did that at Perkins. They have the
parking and Tight next to it they have a few senior spots.
~e6ple would resist. .
--
Heinlein: Only my son won't park in the senior parking.
1 fsten. 'With your gray hair.
Senior Commission Meeting
Apr i 124, 1992 - ,. Page 17
Howard~ It's a wide street. You can park both sides but with th~center.
going in, I think it should be made senior parking. So it would be handy.
For certain hours. Like from what,9:QO to.
When the center's open.
St. John: Is the~e a lot of parking, regular parking
Howard: No. You never see anyone~arked there.
AI-Jaff: The only time. you 'II find par ki ng out there is
big...
What Jane's concern about~having this on.the opening On the
4th of July thinking that that's a time that .it will be particularl~
difficult for seniors to find parking. Because there wouldn't be anyplace
to put them there. How do the~ get here?
That's my feeling also.
st. John: I .thi nk that openi ng of the
anoth,r day and not put it In with aLl the
e
Kubitz: You also don't~~ve Southwest Metro or CART available on the 4th
of July.
AI-Jaff: One thing I was going fo say is, if there was, I mean if the
opening was scheduled on the same day as 4th of July, this road is going to
qe closed. Coulter Drive so nobody's going to be ,able to park on it.
Colby: I don't know if Paul really meant for it to be on
Heinlein: Thai's what he said.
Colhy: That week. I think he was saying there's so much going on that
wciek. There's so much PR people are reading. Different events.
certain.
Kubitz: He said included withth~ 4th of July celebration.
Montgomery: Yeah, but that's a week long.
Colby: ...4thof July is what I'm saying...grand opening of the seniors
maybe the 1st of July.
Heinlein: The 4th of July is on Saturday.
Colby: Then the 4th have it open for people to see it that
e
Bragg: What about Memorial Day b~cause that comes in May. But we're not
ready.
Montgomery:
i
The week of the 4th.
involved in
are. finding for
to:be bringing
on.
Senior Commission M~eting
April 24, 1992 - Page 18
Colb~: You're realiy tight anyway on timing. We'r~ not certain,
there's any delay at all, we'll be right at that ~th. .
I
Montgomery: But th~t is a point. Itcould
week. I
I
I
AI-Jaff: the advertising for the senior center would be done for. us
through the advertisi,ng for the 4th of July. The celebratIons for 4th
July last f6. one week. They don't, it~s not the 4th of
Oh I see. ~ou want the whole week and you could
I
I
AI-Jaff: Well any ~ay during that week.
I
i
Bragg: So it doesnrt fall on the holiday itself.
i
I
,AI-Jaff: No. i
I
I
Montgomery: Well that helps. That's okay then.
I
I
AI-Jaff: / I think it's wise to have it around the 4th.
the 4th. 1
I
e
I
Howard: ThelstoflJuly's a Wednesday. That's a good day.
of the week. i
, i
AI-Jaff: I Sw-e.
I
I
Bragg: I have another comment about something totally different.
and I have. been beginning to merge out. We have
County Board of Commissioners and we. 're accepted
Committee. i
I .
AI-Jaff: Congratulktions. That's wonderful.
i
Bragg: ThClnk you. IFor both of. us. So we are going to be
brI ngingalot of the activities and the resources that we
ourselves as part b~ Eastern Carver County and we'~e going
i~to the Countyan8 possibly be,involved with sales later
I . .
I
Montgomery: When d9 you start meeting with them?
Do you have a schedule?
Howard: Well they had a meeting .inApril so. do you assume
will be July?
I
The fist on~ was April 7th at which time we
I
I
And if it's~ quarterly, i twl 11 be July.
I
I
Oh, ri~ht ~bout our opening.
e
(
Senior Commission Meeting
Page 19
Bragg: .ButanyWay, I think both of us are finding our~elves stimulated
, with this group and then that's how we decided to move on ~nd it's sort
hearing a lot of the things that have happened in Eastern Carver County
the .l ist .
That's great. Very good tie. Congratulations.
Well thank you. I'm glad it's the two of us.
Montgomery: Anybody else have some bulletins?
AI-Jaff: I have a comment. Richard Wing left
you~lease remind the tommission that there is
falL.
Montgomery: We're not the only ones with a problem here.
II
AI-Jaff:
Absolutely.
AI-Jarf: .1 think he's very impressed with you. He wants
shakers on. the Council.
Montgomery: That'a a whole differentballgame.
Bragg: I have brought this letter from Jim Ramstad and
say, I'm not very political but I was impressed the things
to say. Could I read just a little bit?
Bragg: This~...,as a statement to the Speaker of the House of
and he said that he rises in strong support of the House of Representatives
Act No. 2967 which would reauthorize the Older Americans Act. He says I'm
proud to support reauthorization of thIs document and. this will provide $2
million in fiscal year 1993 for central programs for Older Americans' such
as preventive health care services, s~nior citizen centers, Meals on Wheels
and in home care forf~ailelderly. In addition this measure increases
benefits for widows over the age of 80, allows disabled dev~loped bhi1dren
to marry without losing social security or medicare benefits, and requires
the President to convene a White House Conference on Aging next year.
HR2967 also includes a provision to address the social security earnings
tax. Asaco-sponsor to repeal this unfair tax on working senior
citiz,ens, I'm pleased that HR2967 would increase the ear ni ngs for .wo'~ki ng
Americans age 6S to 69 from $10,000.00 to $20,000.00. If. any of yeu are
working and earn that much money, good luck.
e
Bragg: Yeah~ Although this measure is an important step in the r1~ht
direction, it is still not enough. Instead of penalizing older Americans
forwor ki ng, the Federal government should encourage them.to continue being
a productive partef our work force. I will not rest until Congress enacts
full repeal of the earnings tax for working Americans over the age of 62.
Again,Iw~nt to reiterate my strong support for reauthorIzing theOldet
Americans 'Act and I urge my colleagues to pass this measu.re immediately./
Montgomery: Congratulations.
--
I thought that was very interesting that
supporting a lot ~f the seniors Qoals.
. That's a very important Act . It covers a lot of
Senior Commission Meeting
April 24, 1992. -page 20
Bragg: A lotof~thin9s that we're supporting too and the~.
pay for.
Colby: I went up ind made copies of this Expo so you can fill
give this to Sharmin now and it will be all taken care of.
Montgomery: Do we need to coordinate our times?
Colby: You can write your times on the corner of the t.ble
Bragg: Is May 8th on a Monday?
Kubitz: No, 1t.'S Friday.
Montgomery: I have a question .bout ourmeeting~time for next time.
r noticed that our ne~t time is the third Friday would be on the 15th
is only 3 weeks from today. However, if we were to move it up one to the
22nd,thatis Memorial Day weekend because they moved that up or something.
Ai-Jaff: Why don't we go back on schedule.
AI-Jaff: That will force us to do.
You
e
Mo~tgomery: Go back? Ju~tdo it on the 15th.
weeks.! Alright, we'll just leave it as is.
Montgomery: Okay, anybody &lse any comments?
Howard moved, Bragg seconded to adjourn the meeting~
and the motion carried.
Submitted by Paul Krauss
Planning Director
Prepared by Nann Opheim
e;